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January 25th 2009
Communism was rooted in the premise that all people are naturally good—it’s quite the opposite of the Christian belief that society has been broken in our relationship with God, and if left to ourselves, will naturally turn toward self-centeredness.
Marx and Engels proposed that because the capitalistic system of America incites greed and self-focus; if the Russian Communistic leaders could stop all Western materialistic propaganda from reaching the eyes and ears of their populace, then the naturally good man would emerge. The process of re-educating the nation would take about seventy years.
Seventy years after the Communists began their strategy of re-educating their people, the entire system collapsed. Not only the common man, who’d been shielded from Western news, had been corrupted, but so were the powerful politicians who’d been subjugating the population. Self-centeredness had done the same work that it is doing in our Western world. Communist leaders proved what Christians already knew—self-centeredness comes from within, not from outside influences.
It’s pretty easy to observe.
Just hang around babies and children for a day or so. A baby’s world revolves around his or her needs: “I’m hungry!” “I’m tired!” “My diaper’s wet!” “Hold me!” Not too many infants are worried about how exhausted mom or dad is at 3:00 am. It’s all about me!
Then look at them at 2 or 3 years of age, “It’s mine!” “Look at me!” “Pay attention to me!” “Now!”
Our job as parents is, over the years between 0 and 18, to teach and train our children to give of themselves to the world around them; to show them that the universe does not revolve around their wants and needs. That’s called parenting.
It’s a trend today to focus more on our children than ourselves. We enroll them in soccer and dance; we take them to restaurants; we drive them everywhere they want; we buy them name brand clothing; Starbucks is a common stop; birthday parties; Christmas presents… Rather than nurture generosity in our children, we inadvertently engender increased self-focus.
Pediatricians and psychologists are finding parents today to be far too permissive. We are reluctant to set limits for our kids. This benign parental neglect is harming our kids from infancy to adolescence. The very ones we want to bless are being ruined by our love and generosity. We laugh and say, “My Johnny is so spoiled—he speaks and we all run!” But the fact is a spoiled child is a lost child. Just like we throw out a spoiled apple, a child who has been spoiled will not live a purposeful life.
Linda Rubinowitz is a psychologist at the Family Institute at Northwestern University in Chicago. She advocates saying “No” more often to our kids. “It gives the child a sense that you really understand what’s going on. And it gives the child a way to deal with a problem in a social context. You can tell them, ‘Say your mom and dad won’t let you do it, and grumble if you want.’ That’s face-saving for a child.”
I love living in our affluent Canadian society. I’d rather have money than live in poverty, but being financially able to say “Yes” to everything has its downside. Sometimes “No” is the better answer. Self-centered toddlers can become generous, contributing, purposeful adults—it just takes some good parenting.
- Barry Buzza
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